The Scottish Government is reviewing all of its capital spending projects, MSPs have been told, as ministers seek to deal with reduced funding and the impact of “unprecedented levels of inflation”.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said the pause this has forced on all building works in the NHS meant the Scottish Government’s national treatment centres would only deliver half the capacity ministers had originally hoped.
The Scottish Government had previously pledged the centres, being built to try to cut waiting times for patients, would be able to carry out 40,000 procedures a year.
However, with not all the centres up and running, and ministers being accused of having put a “hard stop” on NHS building projects, Mr Gray said that they would provide an “increased capacity of 20,000 elective surgery cases”.
With the pause on construction work in the NHS impacting the planned Ayr national treatment centre, Labour’s Carol Mochan told how the site purchased by the local health board for this would “now lie unused” while patients “suffer on long waiting lists”.
Conservative MSP Sharon Dowey branded the delay to the centre as “unacceptable” as she hit out at the Scottish Government.
Raising the issue in Holyrood, the Tory said: “Yet again we have another broken promise from the SNP and one that will have serious consequences for people in agony waiting for treatment on the NHS.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said a “hard stop” had been placed on “much-needed projects”.
Pressing the Health Secretary on the issue, he said: “With the hard stop put on those treatment centres, what does he have to say on the impact that will have on his Government’s efforts to drive down waiting times?”
Mr Gray said: “In terms of the national treatment centres, they are going to be delivering an increased capacity of 20,000 elective surgery cases.”
But he conceded this was “not where we wanted to be”.
Ministers want to “have all those national treatment centres up and running,” he added, saying Deputy First Minister Shona Robison was writing to UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, to urge him to reverse the cut in the Scottish Government’s capital spending budget.
That cut will amount to £1.6 billion by 2027-28, the Health Secretary added, as he told how “unprecedented” inflation rates had also impacted on the Government’s spending plans.
“Unfortunately this has meant that all NHS capital projects, including the national treatment centre in Ayr, will be paused,” Mr Gray said.
“Our emphasis now has to be on addressing backlog maintenance, and essential equipment replacement.
“All capital projects are now under review. I expect the Deputy First Minister to set out the results of that review in the coming weeks.”
SNP MSPs at Holyrood raised their concerns on the impact that pausing building work by the NHS would have.
Former finance secretary Kate Forbes said while the capital settlement from the UK Government was “dire”, a replacement was needed for the Belford Hospital in Fort William.
Annabelle Ewing pressed for a new medical centre for Lochgelly in Fife, saying locals had been waiting for this since 2011, while Fulton MacGregor stressed the “urgent need” for new Monklands Hospital.
Mr Gray told them: “I would rather have these projects going ahead.
“I want to see an increased capacity and ability to address the needs of the people of Scotland through the NHS.”
But he stressed the “financial reality” ministers were facing, as a result of both the capital budget being reduced and the “increased costs due to spiralling inflation”.